Teacher assessed GCSEs - help plse (reasonable adjustments for dyslexia/ADHD undiagnosed)

[lmorr]

Hi everyone
It is ages (ie years) since I've posted on here - but I need help.
My eldest daughter, who is GCSE year is a bright kid - but this hasn't always been picked up by teachers. I know that in the long run, GCSE's don't matter - I've never been asked for mine - but they matter to my daughter, which is why I'm worried.
She is basically predicted 7s/8s in everything. Except maths, where she was predicted a 7, but over lockdown got moved to a 5. The same week as she was told this in October, she attempted suicide. At her request, we got in a tutor - who says she is currently working at a 7/8 - but the school is refusing to budge, because she apparently did really badly in the October assessment. She is currently getting 85-100% in all her assessments at school (she's in top set) more than some of the people in the set predicted 9s.

We have had involvement from CAHMS (mental health services after her suicide attempt), who think that an ADHD diagnosis is likely, (which totally makes sense to us), but this won't come in, in time for teacher assessed grades.

What can we do? Are there reasonable adjustments we could ask the school to make for dyslexia/ADHD? It seems that much of the assessment is done by the amount of online work they engaged with over lockdown, which she just couldn't get into and did stuff on paper instead... but they are refusing to accept the past papers she's been doing at home. Does anyone have experience of appealing grades? Or any advice? The school says it is too late to assess her for dyslexia, it will have to wait for college) and there is no school counsellor... I feel like I'm floundering. The school seem to think that 7s/8s are good enough (and the 5 in maths is fine as her SATS age 11 were average) - but I think she is a bright kid doing badly as opposed to an average kid doing well. I'm really aware that this sounds like I'm a totally pushy mum - but my son who is 2 years below is currently predicted 3s - and isn't academically bright (but has lots of other skills). I'm just terrified if she doesn't get the grades she is hoping for that it will spark her off again...
So any advice on reasonable adjustments that I should ask for/how I should handle school/how to appeal would be amazing.
Thank you ... (and also just to be clear we've said to her we don't mind at all what she gets and I haven't pushed her at all, so the pressure isn't coming from us...)
Sorry for the ramble.
Thanks
C

I would be asking them to let her sit some maths exams under exam conditions at school. Aren't they doing this?

Our school are taking November mocks, approach over lockdown and in class assessments into account, but then also running a series of in class assessments & exams after Easter - end May to allow pupils to improve their grades.

What you can't/mustn't/shouldn't do is be appearing to put pressure on the school to increase grades. So you need to ask 'what further opportunities will she have to show her current level in Maths'.

I'm certainly not surprised they aren't accepting maths papers done at home - anyone could have done them!

I'm not an expert but personally I think you are unlikely to get adjustments for ADHD/dyslexia if not yet in place (or diagnosed).

The school will need to state what they are basing the grades on, it should be, as far as possible, the same for the whole cohort, and it is highly unlikely to be solely based on an October assessment. If she is achieving higher in more recent assessments it is likely they will grade her accordingly.

I’m not sure the school will adjust for undiagnosed dyslexia. DS who should have taken GCSE’s last summer is diagnosed dyslexic and school complained that we pushed them to recognise this in year 9 (despite us providing paperwork before he started there), he was due to receive 25% extra time, but no scribe or reader), he also uses a laptop rather than writing.

DD has been diagnosed with slow visual processing which I picked upon as a result of lockdown. We asked for dyslexia testing but this was the diagnosis. She will also receive 25% extra time in her exams.

SENCO said that year 9 is when things need to be in place for adjustments for GCSE

That is not entirely true. JCQ deadline to apply for exam access arrangements (extra time, laptop, scribe etc) is normally in February but it may be different this year due to the unusual reliance on school assessments. However it also has to be established as the usual mode of working, hence why schools prefer year 9/10 to have time to demonstrate this in both class and exam conditions. Op , it may be too late for this year's but it may depend on what you are asking for.

JCQ guidelines state that if you, as a parent, do anything to try and influence the grades it needs to be recorded and could be considered malpractice. I would therefore not risk approaching school about this, however it’s framed/phrased as it would be really easy to be be misconstrued and schools are now on high alert about this.

Any assessments done in the final six-ish weeks before grades are due are supposed to account for access arrangements but these would be arrangements already put in place.

Your best bet is to wait until the results and then put appeals in, whereby the school will produce the evidence they have which may well include their write up on extenuating circumstances.

Also, the school absolutely should not be giving you any indication at all of grades (besides things that already exist eg mock exam results, grades given for references etc) so your comment about them “refusing to budge” is a bit concerning because it suggests they are having a dialogue with pupils/parents about teacher assessed grades. If they have, again, that could be considered malpractice on their part.

Unfortunately JCQ deadline this year was 31st March. Would normally have been in Feb. Without sustained evidence of need, you cannot apply for EAA. The only way you can now get it (possibly - and it depends on the SENCO/centre assessor) is if your consultant writes a letter of diagnosis (for mental health, I suggest) which states why this impacts on speed of processing PLUS you would also need teachers to give evidence that your daughter doesn't finish tests and therefore needs the time. In reality, I very much doubt that this is possible and frankly I think any request will be dealt with a degree of suspicion.

Schools are working incredibly hard to put together a package of assessment. JCQ have only just released their guidance. Ofqual was very recent. Essentially what is given to schools is changing almost daily. I've never known a workload like this - utterly nuts. We are all working really hard to maintain the integrity of grades, do the best for our students and ensure fairness. Your daughters grades cannot be based on what she did in lockdown because the school can't ensure that she did them. They won't just bung forward the stuff from October. There are likely to be several assessment opportunities (basically exams) between now and May. After the hols, speak to the head of Maths for clarity.

Thanks everyone for your frank replies - as I've said ages since I've used Mumsnet - and I can't work out how to reply individually!!!

In case it helps anyone else, as suggested above - (thank you LostArcher) CAHMS was able to speak to the school, so she is allowed breaks in assessment if she needs them (not extra time)...

They still haven't been told the kids how exactly they are being assessed - the school is using assessments in May "among other things", but I can't get a straight answer as to what the "among other things" are (ie is it homework/previous tests/work done online etc).

Thank you for the advice on not contacting teachers though - I can see how that could be misconstrued.

I'm hoping that it will all come out in the wash and that I'm worrying unnecessarily. We've decided to let it go - and just hope that the 85-100% she is scoring will make a difference - and just plan to appeal... (Does anyone know how the appeals process works?!)

I totally get how much pressure the teachers are under and how tough it is; I also feel that basically she might as well not have bothered doing any work from October, as it appears that all the grades are already set in stone.

On another note - I was back in touch with CAHMS about ADHD diagnosis - the waiting list is 2 years - so she won't even have a diagnosis before A levels, which is heartbreaking. (So if there's anyone out there wondering if they should take steps towards ADHD diagnosis, there's a very long wait and I wish I had done it sooner.)

Thanks again for your advice/support, it was really appreciated.

Could you go down the private routed for diagnosis?

Thanks everyone ...and thanks for suggestion of going private. We have decided to go down the private ADHD route, as in 2 years time, she'll need to start all over again on the adult list, as she'll be 18 and woudl then have to wait another 2 years. We did go down the private route for dyslexia - and we have just heard said she is dyslexic and would have qualified for 25% extra time. However, the exams are this week and next and we don't have the report yet. To be honest, I know GCSE's don't matter, in the scheme of things, but gutting we didn't manage to get help sooner.

May not be helpful, but a child can repeat a year for medical reasons. Since your DD is under CAMHS for a suicide attempt, that points to sufficient medical reason under mental health. That would give you time to get the ADHD and dyslexia reports done, submitted and exam accommodations sorted the rest of this year. Then your DD can just start the year over in September. Even if she didn’t have these undiagnosed learning disabilities, I’d be considering her repeating a year because it’s a lot for pressure on a child to keep up with GCSE coursework AND recover from being suicidal.

It’s a hard choice, have to weigh if repeating a year would help or hurt her MH. But I think she’d certainly qualify for it. All you’d need is for CAMHS consultant psychiatrist or consultant to write a letter to the school.

I mean, is she really mentally stable enough yet to sit any exam? (I realise they won’t be actual GCSE exams). Her suicide attempt was linked to sitting an exam. What is the risk another exam might trigger another attempt? I think there’s an argument to be made to pull her out of school now and she just focus on her mental health between now and September while you sort the ADHD and dyslexia paperwork to get her the proper accommodation and support in place for when she returns to school.

I think it would be very unfair for the school to adjust marks or give extra time for an undiagnosed condition.
Once they have results from the assessments done this term I am sure they will adjust students grades accordingly.
Like you say I think not as much credibility will be attached to this years GCSEs. I think uni courses such as medicine and Oxford which traditionally place weight on GCSEs will rely much more on their own aptitude tests

Thanks everyone... she's keen to proceed to college and I'm not sure that repeating a year would help her wellbeing ... and the attempt was sparked after a poor grade, rather than the test itself (if that makes sense)...She seems relatively stable right now, although we would pull her out if she wobbled... It's a real lesson though - we shouldn't have let time pass, we always suspected dyslexia and ADHD and we as parents, didn't push for a diagnosis... Covid didn't help.. but no excuse we just thought she was doing ok...

Update.
So assessor had diagnosed dyslexia and recommended 25% extra time. School has said no :( because it is an external private test and JVQ deadline has passed. However, they said they were unable to assess her themselves in January due to Covid. They knew we were getting her assessed for dyslexia, but didn't say they wouldn't take test into consideration and Cahms asked for allowances for possible organisational and attentional deficit. Absolutely gutted as classically she ran out of time earlier this week.

At my DCs school (grammar) they are giving all the students extra time this year because of the circumstances their GCSE course has been under. Maybe your DCs school is teh same , she doesn't realise she is getting extra time because everyone is.

Exam results this year are going to be fairly meaningless anyway, I think.

I would really encourage your DD to try to be positive about it, she only needs a pass at GCSE maths (unless she wants to do A-level), she can look forward to college and a fresh start.

Very crap of the school though; usually an external private assessor would carry more weight than a quick assessment by the school. My (uni age) daughter is still using the dyspraxia assessment we got for her privately, from when she was 14ish!

Really interesting re school allowing everyone extra time...Sadly, she wants to do maths A level ...in terms if rejecting external report - yes gutting. Particularly as they didnt read it before making that decision ( I hadn't sent it) You are right re perspective though...makes sense.

@a8mint

At my DCs school (grammar) they are giving all the students extra time this year because of the circumstances their GCSE course has been under. Maybe your DCs school is teh same , she doesn't realise she is getting extra time because everyone is.

If everyone is being given extra time, then those that need extra time normally should be given extra, extra time.

Why??

Because if children need extra time it is due to slower processing or handwriting or similar. If the school deems it fit that everyone non SEN needs 1 hour then by definition those who need extra time should have more than 1 hour, eg 1hr 15mins.
They will be moderating results against the cohort. Extra time is to 'level the playing field'. So Jim with slow processing can show what he can do compared against Tim who doesn't.

The only exception to this would be if the school just said everyone can have as long as they want.

Thanks so much for all the replies - really appreciated - just to update her ADHD has now officially been diagnosed - we had to go privately, as it turned out that because she was going to cross over into adult care - the wait would be 6 years. Amazingly, she is doing so much better on meds (which I was against), so hopefully we can move forward from here ... (although I am going to post for advice about appeals, so we know what to do, if her grades are really low). Thanks so much again.